Guatemalan man pleads guilty in death of roommate

A Guatemalan man who stabbed his roommate to death during a dispute over noise was sentenced today to 12 years in prison.

Theodore Decker, The Columbus Dispatch

A Guatemalan man who stabbed his roommate to death during a dispute over noise was sentenced today to 12 years in prison.

Julio Marcos-Ribera, 34, pleaded guilty in Franklin County Common Pleas Court to voluntary manslaughter and felonious assault in connection with the Aug. 13, 2011 homicide of Porfirio Mendez-Escobar.

Judge Daniel T. Hogan also ordered Marcos-Ribera to serve five years of court supervision after his release, but noted that the federal government might seek to deport him.

Assistant Prosecutor Elizabeth Geraghty said Marcos-Ribera became incensed when a third roommate returned to their North Side apartment and handed Marcos-Ribera his paycheck.

Marcos-Ribera felt he had been shortchanged by his boss and began complaining about it, Geraghty said. As his complaints persisted and grew louder, Mendez-Escobar came out of his bedroom and told Marcos-Ribera to quiet down because he was trying to sleep.